Mark Phillips Posted February 27, 2022 Share Posted February 27, 2022 I have always loved the Epiphone Wilshire and Coronet guitars, the way they sound, play and feel. In my opinion they are Epiphones version of the SG and the Stratocaster combined. After seeing how Epiphone has put beautiful maple tops on SGs and Les Paul's, I thought to my self what would I like to see Epiphone do to a Coronet so that it would have everything that I wanted in it? So I came up with this idea, take a Coronet and modify it so that it has a veneer top, no pick guard, controls mounted through the rear, Floyd Rose locking tremolo, MOP block inlays, corner input jack and a selector switch located in the lower front horn like a Wilshire. It has a DiMarzio X2N pickup in the bridge position and a DiMarzio Fast track II humbucker in the neck position. It is set up for 1 volume 1 tone with push pull pots for coil splitting and out of phase. The micro switch puts both pickups in series and there is a kill switch. I built this to play 80s metal but with the variety of tones that it gets you could play anything. How would you build yours???? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mihcmac Posted February 28, 2022 Share Posted February 28, 2022 (edited) Very very nice Coronet.... Although the fingerboard inlays make it look more like a Crestwood to me, the lines between the Coronet, Wilshire and Crestwood get kind of blurry sometimes.. I acquired a 2020 Coronet a Wilshire and a 339. Since I only use P90's I replaced the humbuckers in the 339 with Mean 90's and added a Duesenberg Les Trem II. I am quite pleased with the older style current models, Then there is my Strat killer the Ltd Edition 61 SG Special with the StetsBar Tremolo. Not to forget my modified Blueshawk with a Duesenberg Short, mounted directly to the top.. Also added the Les Trem II to my Wilshire and my 2020 SG Classic, the LesTrem II just replaces the stopbar without any mod to the guitar. This is my Ultimate configuration Wilshire, it is my favorite go to guitar. Edited March 1, 2022 by mihcmac Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Phillips Posted March 1, 2022 Author Share Posted March 1, 2022 That's an awesome collection of Epiphones. How do the Duesenberg, Stets Bar and Les Trems hold tune with dive bombs and extreme use? I will post a couple pictures of Some of the other Epis in my collection. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red 333 Posted March 1, 2022 Share Posted March 1, 2022 Beautiful, Mark Phillip's. What was your process for adding the veneer and refinishing the guitar? Again great job. Red 333 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Phillips Posted March 2, 2022 Author Share Posted March 2, 2022 6 hours ago, Red 333 said: Beautiful, Mark Phillip's. What was your process for adding the veneer and refinishing the guitar? Again great job. Red 333 Wow, I could write a book on the steps involved in making this guitar, but I will try to keep is as short as possible. It started out as an 80s or 90s Coronet promo guitar with the full Plexiglas pickguard and bolt on neck. First, I had to fill the pickup and controls cavity with a plug of Mahogony and level the top surface. Even though the neck was a bolt on it was made with all of the wood for a glue in neck joint with some rework of the neck pocket. Once the neck was ready to go, I glued it in and got my veneer book matched and precut. I laminated some 3/4 plywood and made a veneer press. I radiused the edges of the body so I needed some high-density construction foam to place on top of the veneer. when everything was glued up the veneer was put in place on a centerline and put in my press with the foam used to compress and conform the veneer to the body contour. When the veneer was dry, I trimmed the edges back and sanded them into the radius of the body. After finish sanding and making all of my holes and routings I stained the veneer with Keda alcohol-based wood stain and clear coated just the veneer top with 2-part automotive clear coat. It took many coats to fill the pours of the grain and seal the edge of the veneer to the body. I then taped off the front and sprayed the back of the neck and body with primer, sanded them and they were then painted black. At this time, I applied the headstock logo Epiphone MP-1 and taped off the fretboard and clear coated the entire guitar with several coats of 2 part clear. After curing I wet sanded from 500 grit up to 2000 grit and buffed it with 2 stages of compound then a finishing glaze with an orbital buffer. As for the block inlays they are vinyl fret markers purchased from eBay. Time consuming to apply but look very close to mother of pearl and you can't feal the edge when playing they are extremely thin. I have a bunch of photos of the project, but each photo has a larger file size than is allowed. I will see if I can resize them and add some of the veneer and finishing steps. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mihcmac Posted March 2, 2022 Share Posted March 2, 2022 (edited) 17 hours ago, Mark Phillips said: **** Edited. **** As for the block inlays they are vinyl fret markers purchased from eBay. Time consuming to apply but look very close to mother of pearl and you can't feal the edge when playing they are extremely thin. I have a bunch of photos of the project, but each photo has a larger file size than is allowed. I will see if I can resize them and add some of the veneer and finishing steps. You did the Block Inlays, so did it have Dot inlays before? Dot inlays would make it a Coronet if it had one pickup and wraparound bridge, or a Wilshire if it had two pickups with a Tune-O-Matic bridge. Edited March 2, 2022 by mihcmac Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Phillips Posted March 2, 2022 Author Share Posted March 2, 2022 Here are few pics of the project in different stages. I will add a few mor in a day or two. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Phillips Posted March 2, 2022 Author Share Posted March 2, 2022 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Phillips Posted March 2, 2022 Author Share Posted March 2, 2022 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Phillips Posted March 2, 2022 Author Share Posted March 2, 2022 4 hours ago, mihcmac said: You did the Block Inlays, so did it have Dot inlays before? Dot inlays would make it a Coronet if it had one pickup and wraparound bridge, or a Wilshire if it had two pickups with a Tune-O-Matic bridge. Yes, it had the dot inlays, it started out as a Coronet promo guitar with a full body shaped Plexiglas pick guard, a bolt on neck, 1 pickup and the wrap around lightning bridge. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mihcmac Posted March 2, 2022 Share Posted March 2, 2022 14 minutes ago, Mark Phillips said: Yes, it had the dot inlays, it started out as a Coronet promo guitar with a full body shaped Plexiglas pick guard, a bolt on neck, 1 pickup and the wrap around lightning bridge. I remember those, good job... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Phillips Posted March 6, 2022 Author Share Posted March 6, 2022 On 3/2/2022 at 6:05 PM, Mark Phillips said: On 3/2/2022 at 1:27 PM, mihcmac said: You did the Block Inlays, so did it have Dot inlays before? Dot inlays would make it a Coronet if it had one pickup and wraparound bridge, or a Wilshire if it had two pickups with a Tune-O-Matic bridge. Yes, it had the dot inlays, it started out as a Coronet promo guitar with a full body shaped Plexiglas pick guard, a bolt on neck, 1 pickup and the wrap around lightning bridge. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Phillips Posted March 6, 2022 Author Share Posted March 6, 2022 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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